History
Panama City–Bay County International Airport (PFN) began as a private field owned by J.B. Atkinson, Jr., a citizen of Panama City. The facility consisted of 292 acres (1.2 km²) of land with grass landing strips. In 1932, Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson, Jr. donated the property to the Panama City Chamber of Commerce so that a city airport could be established. At that time the airport was named Atkinson Field. In 1938, Panama City and the Bay County Commissioners joined forces to develop the Airport through the construction of an airport terminal and extensive airfield expansion. The facility’s $604,000 development project included the construction of a small passenger terminal and two 4,000-foot (1,200 m) intersecting runways. After the expansion was completed, the airport was renamed Fannin Field in honor of the Panama City mayor during this period.
Throughout World War II, the airport was used as a Civil Air Patrol facility. In 1943, the Florida legislature approved the formation of an airport authority, the Panama City-Bay County Airport and Industrial District, to manage Fannin Field, or Panama City-Bay County Airport, as it became commonly known. In 1948, commercial operations at the airport commenced.
The airport continued to be served by commercial airlines throughout the regulated period of airline history, until the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. During the 1970s and 1980s, the airport had many airlines serving the facility with jet aircraft. However, the flight service offered was mainly point-to-point, therefore there were few destinations offered, and, in turn, passenger enplanements were low.
In 1992, the airport was designated as an international airport and renamed Panama City-Bay County International Airport. At this time, the Airport was equipped with on-call customs and immigrations facilities provided through the Port of Panama City. In addition, the airport was also declared a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), a location which allows special customs procedures to be used. These procedures permit domestic activity involving foreign items to take place as though they were outside of a U.S. Customs territory.
In 1995, the airport went through an extensive development program, demolishing their old terminal building and constructing a new 55,573-square-foot (5,162.9 m2) facility with six gate areas, two equipped with jetbridges. Additional enhancements to the terminal included concession areas, a passenger hold room, airline ticketing counters and office space, airport administration offices, public and rental car parking lots, and an expanded terminal apron. Service in this era included Delta Connection to Atlanta, US Airways Express to Charlotte (and other destinations initially) and Northwest Airlink to Memphis.
The Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport replaced the Panama City-Bay County International Airport due to it having no room to further expand. The new airport opened May 23, 2010. However, the old airport continued to service general aviation flights until October 1, 2010. The only service left remaining at PFN during this time was Delta Connection's Atlanta service, which was carried out to the new airport, and joined by new service from Southwest Airlines.
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